City Council Calls for Special BYOB Meeting on Aug. 19

City Council sent out a notice at 5:04 p.m. Tuesday calling for a special meeting Friday, Aug. 19, to discuss the BYOB initiative in Ocean City.

The meeting will be open to the public and held at 3 p.m. in City Council Chambers on the third floor of City Hall.

City Council President Michael Allegretto said Tuesday that the city anticipates the signatures on the BYOB petition will be verified by the end of the week. He said the council would like to discuss the potential impact of a Sayreville, NJ, case on the proposed BYOB ordinance in Ocean City.

Sayreville passed a local ordinance that allowed restaurants but not a strip club to permit BYOB.

A lower court upheld the city's ordinance, but the Appellate Division reversed that decision on June 13, 2011. The decision said the state's statute on BYOB pre-empts the local ordinance.

Allegretto said parts of the proposed BYOB ordinance for Ocean City -- in particular a section that would regulate how much alcohol could be consumed -- could be subject to challenge based on the court precedent.

He said City Council would like more information on the legal ramifications of the recent decision before voting on the proposed ordinance. He said that the council's vote would likely occur at the next regularly scheduled City Council meeting Thursday, Aug. 25.

City Council has already expressed its unanimous opposition to any BYOB initiative in Ocean City. In a 5-0 vote in January (with Scott Ping and John Kemenosh not present), the current City Council members passed a "resolution opposing any effort to remove the prohibition of consuming alcoholic beverages in restaurants, cafes or food establishments."

Since council's position on BYOB is clear, the discussion on Friday and the vote a week from Thursday should be less about support for BYOB than about following proper procedure.

A group backed by the Ocean City Restaurant Association has submitted a petition with 583 signatures calling for a public vote on allowing "bring your own bottle," or BYOB, restaurants in the dry town of Ocean City. A local ordinance bans the practice in Ocean City, and the petition proposes a new ordinance to replace it (click on PDF icon above to read the proposed ordinance).

Ocean City's proposed ordinance regulates where, when and how much alcohol can be consumed at proposed BYOB establishments.

The state statute outlines fairly simple rules for places where food and drink are sold or served to the public:

• Can allow only consumption of wine or a malt alcoholic beverage
• Can't charge a corking fee or cover charge
• Can't allow BYOB where prohibited by state or municipal law
• Owners can choose not to allow BYOB

Jeff Sutherland, the attorney representing the BYOB petitioners, said he's aware of the Sayreville case, and that he's also aware of a number of municipalities in the state that are attempting to regulate BYOB in ways that address areas the state law does not.

"I have a pretty strong belief that state statute will be amended," Sutherland said.

He said that even if a court ruled that the state statute pre-empts part of Ocean City's proposed ordinance, "it doesn't mean the whole ordinance will get thrown out."

The proposed petition says, "Patrons shall be limited to one 750ml bottle of wine per patron or one six-pack of wine coolers or malt alcoholic beverages per two patrons." It also includes other restrictions, such as BYOB will be limited to establishments with regular wait staff and tables with coverings.

Because council likely will oppose BYOB, their vote will be largely ceremonial. The petitioners have enough signatures (10 percent of the voters who cast ballots in the last General Assembly election) to force the public question to be included on the ballot in the Nov. 8 general election.

The vote is part of an official process that would give City Council an opportunity to make the BYOB ordinance official (if they were to approve it) without a public vote in November. Council's favorable vote would be considered the second and final reading of a local ordinance (with the public petition being the first). If council votes not to support the ordinance (as expected), it will be delivered to the county clerk by a Sept. 2 deadline for inclusion on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Before Council can consider the ordinance, the City Clerk's Office must verify that the petition is signed by a sufficient number of qualified voters.

City Clerk Linda MacIntyre said Tuesday that the process is not complete yet, but that her verification work is going well.